Soccer Pitches and Heavy Metal Concerts
by Gaxxy
Summary: An unexpected gay highschool romance between Ludwig Beilschmidt  The Goth  and Feliciano Vargas  The Jock  flares up. Needless to say very few people are happy about this. Can the relationship stand up to the drama the boys will face, or will it collapse?
1. Personal Promise

**Title:** Football Pitches and Heavy Metal Concerts  
><strong>Genre:<strong> Drama/Romance  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> Yaoi, Angst, Drama Swearing, Some Violence, Bullying and Genderbends  
><strong>Pairings:<strong> Germany/Italy and Canada/Prussia with some very minor side-pairings (including Spain/Belgium, Romano/Fem!Spain, Greece/Japan, Austria/Hungary Russia/Canada Russia/Fem!Lithuania and Scotland/France)**  
>Summary:<strong> An unexpected gay highschool romance between Ludwig Beilschmidt (The Goth) and Feliciano Vargas (The Jock) flares up. Needless to say very few people are happy about this. Can the relationship stand up to the drama the boys will face? Or will it collapse?

_**Prologue**_

The 24th of November 2010. That was a day which would always stick in Ludwig Beilschmidt's mind. It had been a good day, he had received high marks in all of his homework and been gifted with his third dog – a doberman called Berlitz – when he got home from school. For the first time in weeks Jones hadn't tried to approach Ludwig about joining the Football team (which always left him in an incredibly foul mood, although punching Jones in the face generally felt very good at the time). To top it all off that slightly irritating Bulgarian student, Nikola, hadn't turned up for classes – meaning he wasn't trailing Ludwig for the whole day.

Yes that had been a very good day; not just for Ludwig either.

Kiku Honda, Ludwig's closest friend, had received the shock of his life at lunch on that day. And it had been an incredibly good shock.

Just before Kiku and Ludwig had sat down together to eat their lunch Heracles Karpusi, an unusually handsome man of Greek heritage and a good friend of Kiku's had approached and looked straight at Ludwig. "Is ... it alright … if I take Kiku … to sit with me … today? We have … something to discuss." After a quick glance at Kiku, who clearly had about as much clue about what Heracles meant as Ludwig did, the German nodded with a casual wave of his hand. He watched as Kiku stiffened sharply when Heracles casually slipped an arm around his shoulders and led the poor boy away.

Knowing that his friend was perfectly safe with Heracles, Ludwig went about eating his lunch in silence, ignoring the chattering next to him from some of his other friends. He didn't need to respond as the others knew Ludwig only really paid attention when he was being addressed directly.

"Hey, Ludwig?" At the sound of his name, Ludwig set down his fork and looked towards Abel who was looking past him towards another section of the dining hall. "You might want to take a look at Kiku and his little crush." With a small frown, wondering just what the hell Abel was talking about, Ludwig followed his friend's gaze. He suddenly realised just how quiet the hall had become. As soon as he saw Kiku and Heracles he realised why.

Their lunches completely forgotten, Heracles had Kiku up against the wall and was kissing him intenseley. Kiku's slender fingers had tangled into the other man's shaggy brown hair, kissing back with an intensity Ludwig never suspected the Japanese boy possessed.

"Well good for him!" Ludwig heard Elizabeta comment. "He's liked Heracles for two years now, at least he's finally getting somewhere." Silently he did agree with her, he was happy for his friend. Of course he was. Something weighed on Ludwig's stomach, though. Something that prevented him from properly enjoying his friend's happiness.

From the next day onwards, it became all too clear just what that feeling had been about.

Kiku had never been a very talkative individual – but he would be far quieter than normal, even around Ludwig. On the rare occasion he was near his best friend anyway. Ever since the abuse started Heracles insisted on keeping the Japanese boy near him at all times outside of class.

Ludwig had heard whispers of plans to 'teach the freaks a lesson'. He could never pinpoint the source to punch the instigators in the throat so they wouldn't go through with it. Before all this Kiku had never missed a single class in all the time he had been attending the same school as Ludwig. Now it was commonplace for him to be absent roughly two days out of every week. Every time Ludwig tried to call him Kiku would apologise; say he was busy and would see the other at school. And they did see each other, for long enough to exchange quick nods down the corridor.

The whole situation had Ludwig completely on edge, hating the fact that he couldn't do anything for Kiku and his boyfriend. Anything physical that happened to them happened during their free periods while Ludwig was still in class. At least until the 15th of December.

As he left his last class of the day Ludwig felt an uneasy coiling in his abdomen. There was a low buzz in the air as the normal chaos of the corridors funnelled into hurried lines as everyone headed the same way. Knowing something was wrong Ludwig had followed the crowds, not bothering to apologise as he shoved through to get to the destination as quickly as possible. What he saw there made Ludwig freeze in a mixture of outrage and fear.

Heracles was lying unconscious and face-down on the floor, being kicked by cackling boys with cruel smirks on their faces. Kiku was struggling against the boys holding him up against the lockers, pleading with them to stop as they took it in turns to grope at his crotch, hissing about how much he must love it.

Ludwig was stunned, he couldn't move against the infuriating injustice of it all. Too full of anger to do anything more than tremble and yell at the boys to leave Kiku and Heracles alone. Luckily that seemed to be enough.

Taking advantage of the distraction Ludwig provided, Sadik Adnan forced his way out of the crowd and threw the boy holding Kiku against the lockers into one of the ones kicking Heracles. Within seconds Ludwig stomped forward and helped Sadik get the two boys away from their abusers. "Alright listen up!" Sadik barked, his eyes flashing with such dangerous fury that Ludwig was certain the rest of the student body were holding their breath for fear of provoking the man.

"I don't give a shit what you think or how you feel – these two are off fucking limits! I hear so much as a sigh about anything happening to either of them and I can promise you now that the ones responsible won't be coming back to this school. Am I fucking clear?"

Sadik had been suspended for three months, while Ludwig only got a few weeks of detention. After that day no one had bothered either Kiku or Heracles, though, so it was all worth it. The experience of it all had affected Ludwig just as deeply as it had his friend. One of the main things that they had in common was their taste in partners.

Kiku and Heracles were safe for now – nobody messed with Sadik or anyone clearly under his protection. Ludwig, however, was on his own. As such he resolved on the 15th of December that, for as long as he still attended his school, nobody – outside of Kiku, his older brother, and said brother's partner – would ever know Ludwig was gay.

* * *

><p>AN: First multi-chapter highschool thing! This is going to be full of drama and foul language. I will say now that if I do put smut into this then it will be quite late on in the story. Also my Feliciano in this is a spoiled popular boy so he won't take well to rejections and the like. He will still be our sweet, lovable, almost naive Feli - just with a bit of added attitude that will come with his background.

The romance itself will be fairly drawn out, if only because there are very few people who are actually totally in love when they first start dating. At least in my opinion.

Now let me just say that I love Kiku, really. Same with Heracles. It hurt me to write that about them but I needed something to set up part of Ludwig's reluctance to reveal his sexuality. Also I just don't think it would have worked with Sweden and Finland (neither would be close enough to Ludwig and let's face it the boys would have been too intimidated by Berwald to try something like that). Same goes for Scotland and France, Scotland would likely have kicked all their asses before they even got a chance to try anything. So unfortunately it had to be Kiku and Heracles that got it.

Anyway I'm going to stop talking now and just say thanks for reading and please let me know what you thought of it!


	2. Soccer Team

_**Chapter One – The Soccer Team **_

"West! Get your ass over here, already, we're going to be late!" Gilbert Beilschmidt barked at his younger brother who glared up at him before deliberately slamming shut the boot of the green Opel Omega. The two brothers glared at each other as Ludwig fixed his long black coat, heavy boots clunking against the ground as he strode to his brother's side.

Ludwig sighed and shook his head as Gilbert took hold of his arm and dragged him towards the school gym. "Honestly, Gilbert … why do you even need me to come with you to these damned practises? You know I can't stand hockey, and besides it's _you_ that wants to see Matthew. Not me."

The slightly shorter brother scowled and punched Ludwig in the arm with a little more force than was actually necessary. "You know damned well why I need you to come with me!" he snapped before continuing his fast pace. "I refuse to miss Matt's games and training sessions which means you gotta come so it doesn't look too suspicious."

"I'm sure Matthew won't mind you missing it once. He could meet you back at ours afterwards!" At the severe scowl Gilbert sent his way, Ludwig sighed and gave up arguing. He had a lot of work to do and didn't exactly want to waste an hour or more making sure Gilbert didn't jump his secret boyfriend in front of the entire hockey team. However he lived too far from school to simply walk home, and Gilbert was his only chance of a ride. Heracles still insisted upon ensuring Kiku got home without incident – and by now all of his other friends had left the premises.

So, as always, Ludwig relented and followed his brother to the seats over-looking the team's practise session.

Their presence was, by now, so regular that none on the team even glanced up at the brothers. Except for Matthew Williams who gave them a quick wave before instructing the others to get started on warm-ups, and Ivan Braginski. He was one of Matthew's best friends, as well as vice-captain of the team. The large Russian-born boy grinned at the pair unnervingly. Even though Gilbert's eyes were constantly fixed upon Matthew, Ludwig saw it. He didn't like the chill Ivan's eyes took on when they looked at Gilbert.

Unlike his older brother, who paid rigid attention to the happenings below them, Ludwig decided he would prefer to make the best use of this free time he could. He had left his back in the boot of the Omega, so getting started on his work was out of the question – but earlier that day Kiku had mentioned something that had peaked his interest considerably.

His favourite band were due to start their latest tour of the United states fairly soon. And according to Kiku one of the venues listed was in the next town over and would take place in three months time. It was starting to get a little later on to procure tickets than Ludwig was generally comfortable with but there was just enough time left that it wasn't an impossible feat. As such he was quickly tapping away at the screen of his smart phone, until it got to the point where he had to make a very serious decision: one ticket or two?

Usually Gilbert or Abel accompanied Ludwig whenever he went to a gig, however both of them had prior engagements on the date it would be taking place. It wasn't as though Ludwig needed the company, he was hardly a small child who needed his hand held in case he wandered too far from the shopping trolley. Still these things were just that little bit more enjoyable when you had someone with you and didn't have to resort to socialising with strangers. He suppressed a shudder at the very thought.

Kiku wouldn't particularly want to go, he preferred far softer music. Besides it was unlikely Heracles would allow his boyfriend to go without him. Ludwig really didn't want to pay for a third ticket.

Eventually he settled for ordering two tickets, just in case somebody became free on that evening. If nothing else, he supposed he could take Nikola. If _ absolutely_ nothing else. Honestly, Ludwig didn't mind the Bulgarian's company, in fact they had quite a bit in common. The problem came when they met up outside of school: Nikola was far too hands-on for Ludwig's tastes and it was uncomfortable. How Serghei (a student of Romanian descent who also fell victim to Nikola's attention) could put up with it and still smile so much throughout, Ludwig would never be able to figure out.

Just as he confirmed the order Gilbert threw a fist into the air, missing Ludwig's cheek by mere millimetres, with a cheer of encouragement. Ludwig glared pointlessly at his older brother, who was too focussed on watching the team practise to pay any sort of attention to Ludwig's grievances.

With a heavy sigh Ludwig gave up on Gilbert and decided to listen to some music while pretending to watch the practise - when in reality he was planning his homework schedule for the next three months. He had to keep on top of the work so that he could enjoy the gig without worrying about falling behind with his schooling. After all Ludwig had goals (in spite of what he looked like), and the most efficient route to obtaining those goals involved keeping on top of his education.

Eventually Ludwig was brought out of his musings by Gilbert taking out his earphones. The albino snorted with a shake of his head. "If you're going to zone out at least make it _look_ like you're paying attention, West. One of these days we're gonna get caught out!"

After a quick glance down at the field which told Ludwig that the team had finished practising, he raised an eyebrow at his brother. He couldn't really be serious could he? "Somehow I think the team are usually far too occupied with practising for their games to notice whether or not I'm actually watching them or not." The dry comment earned him a hard punch to the shoulder.

"Smart-ass. You're lucky you're my brother, West, or I wouldn't be letting you off so lightly." Gilbert huffed, getting to his feet and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Ludwig just rolled his eyes and put away his phone, following Gilbert behind the Bleachers where they always waited for Matthew.

After the usual exact fifteen minutes the captain of the Hockey team came into view with a small smile curling at his lips. Ludwig looked away as the couple shared a hug and kissed deeply in greeting. He didn't begrudge them the affection, it was just uncomfortable being around them when they were doing couple-type things. Even after they finished both Gilbert and Matthew kept an arm each around the other.

"Sorry Gilbert keeps dragging you here with him, Ludwig." Matthew said sincerely. "I keep telling him there's no need, but he's just paranoid."

Ludwig just shrugged, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Don't worry about it. I've lived with him long enough not to expect any less from Gilbert." The two of them chuckled, ignoring the older brother's indignant glare. Gilbert fished around in his pocket and shoved the car keys into Ludwig's hand, telling him to go and wait there while he and Matthew 'talked strategy'. Which really meant: _shove our tongues down each others' throats while groping everywhere we can reach_.

With a roll of his eyes Ludwig shoved the keys into a pocket and turned to leave the nauseating (and loneliness-inducing) scene when a deliberately loud and obnoxious voice caused them all to freeze. Ludwig didn't even need to turn around to know who had just arrived; witnessing Gilbert and Matthew's current intimacy.

_Why did it have to be the **soccer **__team? _Jones, Ludwig could have handled. For all his single-minded obstinacy, he was easy to deal with and incredibly predictable. No one from the hockey team would have been a problem either, they were too close to Matthew to turn on him over something like this. But this was Lovino Vargas and the soccer team. If Antonio had been there it would be a different story - he was friends with Gilbert. But Antonio was absent today, and Lovino was not going to keep his over-worked mouth shut about what he had just seen.

"Tch. Always knew the hockey team's captain was a faggot." Lovino sneered, puffing his chest out like he had just beaten Ivan Braginski in a wrestling match. A few of the boys behind him sniggered, cracking their knuckles in preparation for a fight. "Just wait until I tell Tony that _both _his 'amigos' are pathetic little bitches!"

Gilbert snarled, wrenching out of Matthew's restraining grip. "You ain't gonna tell Tony anythin', Vargas! But if you wanna see who the bitch here is, why don't you put your fists where your damned mouth is, huh?"

"Gilbert!" Ludwig hissed discouragingly, grabbing hold of his brother's shoulder. "Don't be such an idiot and calm down!" but Gilbert wasn't listening. It was no secret that he and Lovino had been looking for an excuse to batter one another for a long time now, and they had just found it. With a yell Gilbert launched himself at Lovino, only to find himself shoved to the ground by Jamar Nwosu.

Ludwig was there within milliseconds, grabbing Jamar by the shirt and punching him as hard as possible in the face. It didn't matter if Gilbert was being an idiot, if he was going to pick a fight with someone then no one else was getting involved. Even if Ludwig had to suffer for it.

Jamar reeled back, clutching a bloodied nose and glaring at Ludwig as he prepared to rush again. That is until another voice was heard over the anticipation of the ensuing fight. An overly cheery laugh rang out as Lovino's younger brother made his way towards Matthew with a huge grin on his face. He clapped the stunned Canadian on the shoulder heartily and shoved some money into his hand. "Guess you proved me wrong, Matt!"

"Feliciano, just what the _Hell are you doing?" _Lovino fumed. Feliciano just grinned wider and laughed again, this time with a little bit more tremble.

"You see, we were talking the other day at lunch about Tony and his friends. And I decided it would be fun to make a bet with him! Francis and Tony were out of the question, of course. So I settled on Gilbert! I bet him twenty bucks he wouldn't be able to convince Gilbert Beilschmidt to make out with him by the end of the week. He proved me wrong!" Feliciano gulped slightly and Ludwig wondered if this resolve was going to crack under Lovino's glare.**  
><strong>

"Tch, damn it you're such an idiot!" Lovino waved a hand and Jamar fell back in line. "Don't get involved with my brother's half-baked ideas, ya got it? They'll only get ya into trouble!" he warned Matthew before stomping away, clearly annoyed that he had apparently been wrong. Once they were gone Feliciano let out a sigh of relief and smiled apologetically at Ludwig and the other two.

"Sorry about that, Lovino's been having a really bad day ..."

Ignoring Gilbert's bitter mumbling about Lovino always having a bad day Matthew gave a grateful smile and handed the money back to Feliciano with an awkward but entirely grateful 'Thank you'. Ludwig, however was too suspicious to just let things drop like that.

"Why did you step in?This had nothing to do with you." Feliciano frowned at Ludwig, raising his hands to placate the larger boy in case his temper was about to boil over without warning. Of course he would have heard the warnings about going near the younger Beilschmidt brother. Rumours and stories had a habit of getting around the school - especially unfounded ones about Ludwig being angry and dangerous because of the way he looked and the music that he listened to.

"Don't tell anyone but Lovino's real close to losing his place on the team, because of his temper. I didn't want him to get kicked out because he gets suspended for getting into another fight. Besides," here the grin returned, and the sheer brightness of it made Ludwig's eyes hurt "everyone deserves the freedom to be happy!"

Gilbert rolled his eyes with a short, almost barking laugh. "Enough with the interrogation, West. The kid helped out, that's good enough for me. Now let him get back before his team starts wondering where he is; we can get home to feed your mutts and ourselves."

* * *

><p>AN: Okay! Now that Vollmonds is finished I'm going to be working a lot more on this story and the other two I have on the go! I apologise for the long wait in this chapter coming out but I had a lot of trouble getting the time to do any writing, and then it took ages for me to be happy with what I have here.

Here we have the first official meeting between Ludwig and Feliciano!

Hope you guys enjoyed it, and I promise the next chapter won't take as long to get out.

Let me know what you thought, especially if there's anything you think I can improve on. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!


	3. Unwelcome Circumstance

**Chapter Two**

It took three whole weeks for Matthew to stop stressing over their close encounter with the soccer team. Despite having Feliciano's word on the matter, the Canadian hadn't been convinced Lovino would let the matter drop so easily. After three weeks of not even hearing the tiniest whisper of a rumour about him and Gilbert, Matthew finally relaxed and things went back to normal.

After a while Ludwig started to forget about the incident entirely, too preoccupied with other things. Like making sure Kiku was still faring well enough that Ludwig didn't need to have any 'words' with Heracles. Being the school's resident Goth had its perks, especially if very few people knew one wasn't too likely to carry out the full extent of the very violent threats they made. So far, though, it seemed Heracles had been treating the quiet Asian boy adequately so Ludwig had no reason to step in.

The two of them were eating lunch together in one of the comfortable silences which had been present throughout the majority of the time they had been friends. Lately Heracles had been comfortable enough to let Kiku spend some time with just Ludwig around. Although he didn't mention it, Ludwig figured it might have something to do with a very animated, if hushed, argument he witnessed between Heracles and Sadik the other week. It was nice just to be able to sit in silence without people around him filling it up with as much noise as they could.

At any rate it was just generally nice to go back to normality: no forced mundane chatter, just a companionable atmosphere that Ludwig had sorely missed.

Just as he was drinking the last of his water Kiku made an awkward throat-clearing noise which instantly gained Ludwig's undivided attention. "Pardon ... it is probably nothing." Ludwig had long ago stopped getting irritated by his friend's habit of apologising when he spoke so he just waited for Kiku to continue. "Is it normal for your brother to associate with the soccer team?"

It really wasn't. In fact it was well-known that the only person on the team Gilbert had any good relations with was the captain. Considering there wasn't a loud ruckus, it was safe to assume nothing untoward was taking place. Just to be sure, though, Ludwig followed Kiku's gaze to see Feliciano standing in front of where Gilbert was sitting. They were too far away to tell what was being said but Ludwig excused himself quickly, striding over to see what was going on. Feliciano hadn't made any contact with them since that day so despite himself Ludwig couldn't help but be suspicious of the athlete's intent.

His New Rocks clacked against the hard flooring as he strode quickly over. Gilbert, of course, was the first to notice his approach. He grinned lazily and stretched his legs. "Great timing, West. The kid, here, was just asking where he could find ya!" Ludwig frowned, he wasn't exactly a hard person to miss.

Feliciano looked up at him with an eye-hurtingly bright smile. "Hey! This is great, I was starting to think I wouldn't run into you before lunch was over!" Even his voice was far too bright, just how much sun did this guy absorb every day?

"You almost didn't." Gilbert sniggered, standing up without any thought to how much his chair scraped against the floor. "Bell's gonna ring any minute!" With a backwards wave Gilbert and his three friends left the hall, Francis laughing in such a way that made Ludwig bristle and grind his teeth.

With a sigh, Ludwig roughly ran a hand over his slicked back hair and glared down at Feliciano. "Well what is it?"

Feliciano's cheery demeanour slipped almost as soon as Ludwig asked him. "See I'd heard from Tony that you were really good at chemistry ... and there's an assignment I'm really struggling with in my class! I don't know anyone else that can help me, so I was hoping maybe you'd help me out with it?" He looked up at Ludwig pleadingly just as the bell rang to warn everyone to start heading back to class.

_That_ Ludwig hadn't been expecting. "No. I have my own work to concentrate on - I don't have time to do your work for you on top of it all." For a split second Feliciano looked crestfallen, before determination flashed over his face.

"You wouldn't be! Come on, I really need to get this or I won't have time for the team any more and I can't let them down like that!"

Ludwig sighed exasperatedly and started walking away. "That's _your _problem, not mine." He didn't get very far before a surprisingly strong grip wrapped around his bicep, slipping ever so slightly on the leather of the trenchcoat before taking a proper hold.

"You owe me!" Feliciano's voice was low enough that nobody would catch on to the conversation. "If it wasn't for me both your brother and his boyfriend would be going through Hell right now, the least you can do is help me with this!" Ludwig growled angrily at the unspoken threat against his brother. He didn't really think Feliciano would do anything to actually reveal Gilbert and Matthew's relationship but he wasn't willing to take that risk.

Wrenching his arm out of Feliciano's grasp he gave a sharp nod to show he was reluctantly going along with this. "Fine. Come to my house after practise, and make sure to bring everything you need. This is your assignment so don't expect me to do the majority of the work, understood?" Immediately that impossibly cheery smile was back and Feliciano nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! I'll see you this evening, Ludwig! Tony knows your address, right? I'm sure he does, I'll just ask him later."

As Ludwig made his way to class he pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned heavily. He knew he had just gotten himself into something he was going to regret, but what way could he have refused? He was already being scrutinised over the incident with Kiku and Heracles, he didn't need a suspension for beating up another student on top of that. Ludwig was going to have a little talk with Gilbert later, before Feliciano arrived. It was his fault after all, he and Matthew needed to be a lot more careful.

Ludwig had cautioned his brother many times on the importance of discretion but the words had never sunk in, not even after the close call they'd had with the soccer team. One could never be too careful, but Gilbert just didn't understand his brother's concerns; shrugging them off as if he were just an over-protective nurse maid.

_Damn it, he's going to give me a lot of grief for this. I'm going to need counselling ... or at least boxing lessons with father to relieve this stress._

* * *

><p>AN: I know this is shorter than the other chapters so far but I always planned for this to be one of the shorter ones, so it's actually a bit longer than I expected it to be. So I think that turned out okay!

Yes, I know, the whole one partner helping another with a specific class is seriously cliche. To be honest, though, this is one time I don't mind too much with sticking to a cliche. This was always the way Ludwig and Feliciano were going to be forced into proper interaction while I was planning this story out and I didn't want to spend months thinking up something else before getting this chapter out just so things could go a little differently.

And if Feli seems just a little out of character, well that was sort of deliberate. In this AU he's a very spoiled rich boy and being told 'no' never goes down well with either him or his brother. I actually think that in this setting he would be like this and even in the show/manga he's shown to be quite persistent when he wants to be, this is just a different way of showing it. Plus if I stick too closely with the show version of Feliciano I don't think it would work out too well here, so I'll be taking a little bit of artistic license here and there. It won't be so much that you don't recognise the character, though so don't worry too much.

Before I start rambling on I'll just go ahead and thank you for reading this chapter! Please let me know what you thought and I hope you'll return for chapter three :)


	4. Chemical Imbalance

**Chapter Three**

When he got home Ludwig mechanically went through his routine of feeding the dogs and tidying up the kitchen. If Vargas turned up then this would be their work area: Gilbert always hogged the sitting room after school and Ludwig didn't want to use his own room. Not even his own father entered Ludwig's room, let alone an unwanted house-guest. On top of that he wanted to lessen the amount of teasing he was going to get from his brother about having Vargas over.

"What's with the face, Lutz?"Gilbert asked, leaning in the doorway. "You're being even grouchier than usual, gonna tell me what's up?" Ludwig glared at him reproachfully.

"Thanks to you I'm having some unwanted company later."

Gilbert smirked playfully. "So the Vargas kid talked you into letting him come over? Damn, West, you're going soft on me!" he sniggered, dodging the wet cloth Ludwig threw at his face. "Calm down, I'm sure the two of you will get along _just fine_."

Ludwig growled irately at the suggestive wink his brother sent his way. "The very thought makes me sick. At any rate it's _your_ fault he's coming here in the first place! If you'd been more careful then Vargas wouldn't have been able to threaten me with outing you and Matthew!"

The older brother frowned, clearly unhappy with the direction the conversation was going. "You're over-reacting. Everything turned out fine and after this you're both even so things can go back to normal. So stop stressing and calm down before you break something. This will all be over before you know it." After clapping Ludwig on the shoulder Gilbert retreated back into the sitting room.

With a heavy sigh Ludwig finished tidying up, then grabbed his notebook and a pen from upstairs. If Vargas remembered or managed to get directions then it probably wouldn't be long before he arrived.

Sure enough, the dreaded ring of the doorbell came and Ludwig trudged through to answer it; steadfastly ignoring Gilbert's shouts to answer the door. Vargas grinned brightly at Ludwig who just kept his face set sternly as he led his unwanted guest through to the kitchen. "You brought everything you need? Good. Now before we begin I'm going to lay down some ground rules. First: this is _your _project so you will do the majority of the work. I'm only here to make sure you understand what you're doing. Second: we take breaks only when absolutely necessary. Third: I am not here to act as your friend, this is purely about the project. Are we clear?"

"As the water in the Trevi fountain, captain!" Feliciano didn't seem at all fazed by Ludwig's severity. If anything he found it mildly amusing. As he took the seat next to Ludwig's at the table, the jock looked up at him. "So how long will we be here for?"

"Two hours, every time you're here until the work is done." Ludwig pointedly ignored the crestfallen expression on Feliciano's face and told him to explain just what they needed to do. After sifting through his notes for a minute, Feliciano took out a sheet of paper which explained the brief of the assignment and handed it over to Ludwig.

_Choose an element and research it in depth. Using examples write 1,500 words on the number of uses of this element and how useful or otherwise it is for people in every day life. _

_If cleared with the teacher, a student may also be permitted to make a five minute long verbal/visual presentation to the class instead._

When asked if he had chosen an element to research yet, Feliciano shook his head. "There are so many, I just can't pick one." Ludwig sighed and shook his head. They really were starting this whole thing from scratch, and from what he could see from the brief it wasn't all that difficult.

"Do you at _least_ know the format you're doing this in?"

"I'm not very good with essays, so I'm doing a presentation." That was something at least. Ludwig could work with this. After twenty minutes of deliberating, and Feliciano wracking his brain, Ludwig finally made a decision so that they could get on with the actual work. They would research Potassium and once enough information had been gathered Feliciano could put together his presentation.

Since Ludwig didn't trust the other boy to actually remember any of this or keep his notes organized enough, Ludwig noted down everything they needed for next time.

Despite Feliciano's efforts to start up conversations, Ludwig's lips remained tightly sealed for the hour and a half they still had going. The only time he stopped scanning the textbook was to snap at his guest for messing around on his phone when he should be working. "But it's important! Tony, Anita and Emma are coming with me and Lovino for a big weekend outing. We're trying to sort out what's all happening, and I'm trying to get Ambra to come with me so I'm not just by myself..."

"I. Don't. Care. Now you will either put that phone away and keep it away or I'll take it and you won't get it back until we're done! Is that understood?!" Feliciano was really trying his patience, he'd already needed to break three times to get a drink or go to the bathroom. This was just getting ridiculous now. Feliciano visibly winced and shakily pocketed his phone with a small nod. "Good. Now there's only half an hour left so _try _and make some decent notes to look over before next week."

~#~#~#~#~

_Grampa hs frnds 4 dinr 2nite. 2moro ok? _

Ludwig scowled at his mobile as he noticed the sender. Reluctantly after the first session, Ludwig had agreed to exchange numbers so they could arrange times without having to seek each other out during school hours. Feliciano didn't really text him all that much, but his laziness in the way he typed out the messages was severely grating on Ludwig's nerves. Eventually he replied with a '_Fine.'_ and left it at that.

The last few times Feliciano had come over for a project session they hadn't even managed to do any work. Feliciano had insisted that to show his gratitude he would make dinner for Ludwig and Gilbert. Which meant Ludwig had to stomp down the street to the nearest store and pick up any ingredients they didn't have in the house. Even though Feliciano did pay for it all, that didn't make him any happier about the situation. It meant there were going to be more days of Feliciano coming over than was absolutely necessary.

Ludwig sighed and deposited some books into his locker, it was lunch time but he wasn't particularly hungry. After a moment he did take his home-made lunch out of the locker, deciding he could have some if he wanted. On his way to the lunch hall Ludwig heard Feliciano's voice and that of a girl. This in itself was no surprise, Ever since that weekend, Feliciano and Ambra Dubois could be seen roaming the corridors with linked arms and occasionally caught kissing when they should be on their way to class. What made Ludwig stop was the mention of his name.

"You're spending a lot of time with him outside of school. I've heard people starting to talk about it." Ambra stated firmly, waiting for her boyfriend's response.

"What's there to talk about, petal? I'm paying him to help me with my chemistry assignment, that's all!" It was true enough, but Feliciano shouldn't have added the lie about paying Ludwig. The tall blond had noticed that Feliciano's voice started to do a certain tremble when he wasn't telling the truth.

Ambra let out an exasperated sigh that Ludwig had to admit he was rather impressed with. "Most of his friends are _gay _Feliciano. I wouldn't be surprised if he was as well. Everyone thinks he's trying to get in your pants." There was a heavy pause in which Ludwig felt his face heat up with rage and worry. People were starting to suspect his sexuality, because of Feliciano. That was a problem. On another note, while Ludwig couldn't deny that Feliciano was physically appealing he would rather sleep with one of his dogs.

Finally Feliciano laughed off Ambra's worries. "Don't be silly. Ludwig can't wait for the assignment to be finished so he doesn't have to put up with me anymore. Come on, petal, let's go get some lunch."

As they walked away Ludwig decided he would rather eat his lunch outside. Being around so many people wasn't a good idea until he cooled down a bit.

* * *

><p>AN: And finally here's the next chapter. Not an awful lot to say here except that it took me ages to come up with some kind of project, as it's been a long time since I took chemistry. Then it took forever to choose an element to go with. I chose Potassium because it has associations with food and so on, which I thought would be good for Feli.

Ambra Dubois is my name for Monaco. It's been quite a while since I looked at anything regarding human names for characters so I don't know if she has any possible ones or a confirmed name yet.

Anyway please let me know what you thought: whether you like the story or have any issue about it to bring up. Any helpful criticism would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys next chapter!


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